Mortar, subs. (common).—1. The same as Mortar-board (q.v.).
2. (venery).—The female pudendum. For synonyms see Monosyllable.
Mortar-board (or Mortar).—The
trencher-cap worn at certain public
schools and at the Universities.
1600. Kemp, Nine Days' Wonder, 'Ded. Ep.' So that methinkes I could flye to Rome . . . with a morter on my head.
d. 1635. Bp. Corbet to T. Coryate. No more shall man with mortar on his head Set forward towards Rome.
1647. Fletcher, Fair Maid of the Inn, v. 2. He . . . may now travel to Rome with a mortar on's head.
1857. Cuthbert Bede, Verdant Green, Pt. II. ch. iii. 'I don't mind this 'ere mortar-board, sir,' remarked the professor of the noble art of self-defence, as he pointed to the academical cap which surmounted his head.
1864. Fun, 21 May, p. 96. Anon I saw a gentle youth (no 'sub fusc' under-grad.) 'Toga virilis' he had none, no mortar-board he had.
1881. Pascoe, Every-day Life, 147. On admission . . . a boy provides himself with a mortar or college-cap.
Mortgage-deed, subs. (common).—A
pawnticket. For synonyms
see Tomb-stone.
Moses. To stand Moses, verb.
phr. (old).—See quots.
1611. Cotgrave, Dictionarie. . . . Holie Moyses, whose ordinarie counterfeit having on either side of the head an eminence, or luster, arising somewhat in the forme of a horne, hath imboldened a prophane author to stile cuckolds parents de Moyse.
1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue, s.v.
1811. Lex. Bal., s.v. Moses. A man is said to stand Moses when he has another man's bastard child fathered upon him, and he is obliged by the parish to maintain it.
1859. Matsell, Vocabulum, s.v. Moses. A man that fathers another man's child for a consideration.
By the piper that played before Moses, phr. (common).—An oath. Also by the holy jumping mother of Moses. See Oaths.
1855. Strang, Glasgow and Its Clubs, 243. But, holy Moses! what a rear?
1876. Hindley, Adventures of a Cheap Jack, p. 109. Screw your courage to the sticking place and by the holy-jumping-mother-of-moses—who was my uncle—we'll not fail.
1890. Hume Nisbet, Bail Up! 212. 'And, by the piper that played before Moses, so they did, replied her companion coolly.
1892. Hume Nisbet, Bushranger's Sweetheart, p. 153. 'Did I spake concerning the stable and a wisp of straw, me boy, for you and your friend? No, by the piper which played before Moses, ye shall have our best bedroom this night to lie in, and be carried up to it also.'
Mosey, verb. (American).—To
decamp. For synonyms see Amputate
and Skedaddle.
1838. Neal, Charcoal Sketches, i. If your tongue wasn't so thick, I'd say you must mosey: but moseying is only to be done when a gemman's half shot.
18[?]. N. Y. Family Companion [quoted by Bartlett]. After I left you, or rather after you left me, when them fellows told you to mosey off before the boat went to sea.
1848. Bartlett, Americanisms, s.v. Mosey. The following is said to be the origin of the word: A postmaster in Ohio by the name of Moses ran away with a considerable sum of money belonging to the government. To mosey off, or to run away, as Mr. Moses had, then became a by-word in Ohio, and, with its meaning somewhat extended, has spread over the Union.
1857. Louisville Journal, 9 Oct. My friend, let me tell you, if you do not mosey this instant, and clear out for good, you'll have to pay pretty dear.
